A viral video (here, here, and here) on social media shows a skater performing a stunt over a missile lying on the ground, following which the missile explodes. It is being claimed that this was recorded in Gaza, where a conflict has been going on between Israel and Hamas. We will fact-check this claim through this article.
Claim: Video of a missile lying on the ground exploding after a skater performs a stunt on it.
Fact: This is an edited video; the original video does not show an explosion after the skater lands on the missile. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
To verify the claim, we performed a reverse image search on a few keyframes from the viral video and found an Instagram post dated 11 May 2025. The post’s caption urges viewers not to touch or approach suspicious objects left behind by war. A text on the video says that the post was meant to raise awareness only.
The account belongs to Rajab Al-Reefi, a Gaza City resident who has been teaching local youth to skate since 2017 and is currently raising funds to build a small skate park through GoFundMe.
During this search, we also found a longer version of the same clip, where Al-Reefi performs a clean kickflip on the missile-shaped object without triggering any blast. In fact, several people can also be seen skating in the same location amid damaged buildings. No explosion occurs in this original footage. However, we did not find the explosion footage used to edit the viral video
Al-Reefi has posted similar videos (here, here, and here) of people skating on rubble-strewn streets and teaching sessions near these damaged areas.
To sum up, a digitally altered video is shared with a false claim that a Gaza man caused an explosion by skating on a missile.
